Front Line
by linda.ljc
Summary: For the heroes of Atlantis it's a very dark two years before relief finally arrives. AU I've written several stories with an important character that isn't listed on the character list. So, Miko Kusinagi, is definitely a main character, at least for me.


**Title: Front Line**

**Author: lindaljc, **

**Summary:** For the heroes of Atlantis it's a very dark two years before relief finally arrives.

**Category:** Angst, Drama, H/C, Action/Adventure, AU

**Warning:** Het, Gen, Character Deaths, Whump

**Characters:** Miko Kusinagi, Colonel Caldwell, Radek Zelenka, Sergeant Bates, John Sheppard, Rodney McKay, Carson Beckett, Chuck Campbell, minor OC's

**Disclaimer:** The characters and settings of Stargate SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis belongs to Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Film Corporation. All other publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of Stargate: SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis or any other media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

_This story was written by with the love of the show in mind._

...

**ALL ATA GENE CARRIERS**were always on the front line. That's just the way it had to be. There had been so few that had come on the Expedition to Atlantis and every loss was a sacrifice they couldn't spare. Markham had died, months ago, and also Dr. Grodin. Dr. McKay, whose recessive gene had been activated, at present could not even copilot because of injury, and there were no more Jumpers available left for him to fly anyway.

Major Sheppard had been wounded, and he still had a terrible limp. With proper food and medicine and time to rest he would probably have a chance to heal properly. But the chances of that were slim. And right now he would not... really could not... be left behind. He was the only trained fighter pilot left, and he had taught the others brutally, viciously, giving no quarter, allowing for no ego, and sparing no feelings. And they were so grateful.

Even dear Dr. Beckett, who shook for hours before and after a mission could not be spared, and he was their Chief Medical Officer. There were only a nurse and a medic-in-training to take over medical care if they lost the Doctor, and they were training as fast as they could because everyone knew that time had almost run out.

Dr. Miko Kusinagi had spent hours in simulators, as had Doctor Beckett and Major Sheppard, too. She often woke up in the middle of the night trapped in the middle of a nightmare dogfight. She would quieten her breathing and rub her unborn child back to sleep, and finish that fight in her mind. Then do it again.

The Puddle Jumpers at one time were their salvation, but now they were really their only hope. Small arms weapons had proved nearly useless against the Wraith they fought. Larger weapons were out of ammunition. Food stores were always low, but became lower still when some stores were destroyed in attacks. Their uniforms, what was left of them, were simply tattered, and as long as they were clothed and warm, uniforms hadn't really mattered for a long while. It didn't matter much anymore who was combat trained and who were scientists or support staff.

The people themselves were understandably demoralized and suffered greatly as their numbers had dwindled. They'd lost a few in the first year, but the second year was beyond devastating between attacks on and off planet. They now could barely shield the Control Tower, and for safety and quickness of response often bedded down there in some corner of the Control Room. They still managed to keep their most valuable asset, the Control Chair, locked down behind it's own small shield.

There were less than fifty people left, and three of those were children: there was Mikolas Kusinagi-Zelenka; Torren, son of Teyla, the last known child of Athos; and a baby girl they rescued just a few weeks ago from a planet whose village was culled to a burned out cinder. But they had taken her in gladly and named her Beth, in honor of Dr. Elizabeth Weir who had been lost early in the second year.

But today was the day. The decision had been made. Everyone had packed anything that could be of future use to them in juryrigged carry totes, backpacks, and crates and they were ready. Because everyone believed this would be the last day. If they survived it, it would be evacuation day.

For that reason alone Miko had more reason to be worried today than ever before. She glanced at McKay at the control panel in the Gate Room. He was obviously leaning heavily on the panel before him. Watching him trying to focus enough to be of help was almost painful. She'd had a concussion herself not long before and even the remembered agony was nauseating to her, or maybe it was her baby girl's movements that caused it today.

She took a shuddering breath before turning away to head to her Puddle Jumper. It was ship #3, and it was her ship simply because she was the only one left to pilot it. Sheppard had ship #1, and Beckett #2. That was all that were left that repairs had kept flying.

Then she noticed her Radek as he rushed forward to grab her in his arms. He released her long enough to hold tight to her hands, then pulled her into a hug again. He whispered urgently. "You must come back." He whispered softly. "I love you, Miko."

"And you must stay safe, Radek."

"You shouldn't be flying. You are six months pregnant."

She pulled him in for a tighter hug. "You know there is no one else to fly. We made decisions when we thought we were safe. That contact would come as promised. Even if we had known, I would not give up my son, or your coming daughter. You must stay. I must go. You must stay safe for Mikolas. Please, stay busy so you will not worry too much. Keep he and Torren together. They keep each other busy, and little Beth makes all of you laugh."

Radek nodded without being able to say a word.

"Radek, we are packed. We are as ready to evacuate as we can be."

Radek grabbed her once more, so tight it was hard to breathe. "Just remember we will be waiting for your return. If this fight is to be our last on Atlantis, please try to return to us."

"You know I will." They hugged again and she could see McKay's face over Radek's shoulder.

McKay wasn't the only one to quickly turn away to give them some privacy. She could see Rodney slump before straightening slowly. She knew he worried, but he would complain that he was too busy to allow himself time to worry about one of his scientists. She could remember him so clearly from the early days when he would bluster and deny any such thing as worrying about anyone, or how preposterous even the idea was that he could have a favorite.

She looked around at all these people. So few were left but they struggled on each day, and she was so proud of every one of them. They had sent a message months ago, well after the scheduled relief that should have arrived. They'd questioned and pleaded for them to come, but they didn't expect it now. That hope was too much to even consider, although it did fleetingly cross her mind at the darkest times.

Their Jumpers now only carried a few drones each. That was all that was left. When those were gone, they would leave Atlantis. They would sink her with a shield only around this Gate Room and then dial out to another planet with their meager supplies. It was one that had been scouted as carefully as possible. It was unpopulated, abandoned, but viable for life. After they left, the Shield would turn off and anyone dialing in would drown in the cold of Atlantis' ocean. Privately, she hoped a lot of Wraith would rush in to do just that.

McKay stood abruptly. "Wait! Wait! Everyone wait! Chuck, look at this. Is this another hive ship?"

"It's much further out, sir. Something's coming over comm!There's a coded message coming in. Oh, my God. It-It's the Daedalus. They're almost a light hour out!"

Sheppard grimaced. "And the two hives will be here in ten minutes."

The Major was so pale that Miko thought he would pass out before he could climb to the Jumper bay, but she saw that Bates was by his side. He was always at his Commander's side now.

Bates, like the others had changed a great deal. After two years experience they knew how hard it was: the constant stress on the scientists to keep the city running; the constant battle readiness for military and civilians alike; the constant knowledge that defense of the city rested mainly on the shoulders of the gene carriers; that incursions were fought by everyone that could still hold a weapon. There was always the constant threat of death for everyone. So, from the beginning the non-ATAs tried so hard to take on any burdens they could spare the others, but it was an imposible situation, and everyone worked in a constant state of exhaustion.

Sheppard turned to them. "Beckett. Kusinagi. One more time. Keep your cloaks up as much as possible. Don't let them gang up on you. Cloak and split and I'll try to draw them away." He sighed. "You know the drill almost as well as I do. You're good pilots, both of you. Let's all come back today."

Miko couldn't look at anyone. She headed to her Jumper. She was terrified, but the Daedalus... it would mean Radek and Mikolas would be alright. There were no tears at that thought, only hope.

It seemed curious that her nightmares so often truly followed life. But she had fought this fight, and every fight any of them could imagine, in her dreams so often; and in the simulator over and over. She could do this. She had to. There was no one else.

They always flew a newly chosen flight path. Sheppard changed the pattern with every battle, every little skirmish. But they were as used to this deadly ballet as one could ever get. Fire and cloak, and cloak and change tragectory. When fire was especially heavy they would cloak and follow the leader, and the last in line would hold their shields at maximum hoping to deflect attacks on the others. When one was under multiple attacks they would double down on the attackers. All these tactics and more were learned from desperate need and dire experience.

And then the Daedalus' fighters arrived far earlier than the cruiser had been expected. They must have observed the attack from far out and sent help early enough to intervene. Those reinforcements had turned the tide in the battle that had barely begun.

The startled darts and hive ships withdrew like the cowards they were, and the battle was suddenly over. Sheppard radioed and thanked the relief pilots and would have offered a place to land on a pier if there was a flat surface still viable. As it was, the three in the Jumpers felt almost numb at the suddenness of the end of the battle as they returned to the Jumper Bay.

The fighters from the cruiser decided to await the arrival of the Daedalus and their own flight decks and took over patrols while the Atlantis Jumpers turned and limped home once again. All three. A miracle no one believed would happen. They all believed this was the last battle, whether it was won or lost, it was supposed to be evacuation day.

Everyone, the almost fifty, even the baby, were gathered in the Control Room for the evacuation that hadn't come. The area in front of the Gate was always left open, but the Daedalus Captain, Caldwell, asked persmission to use an Asgard beam to come down to that area.

"This is Captain Caldwell, ready to debark. Atlantis Control are you ready to accept visitors?"

Everyone glanced around in a dull kind of surprise. Visitors? They looked down at themselves in their dirty and torn clothing, and around at the damage to the area of the city they could see. There was only bitter tea and a thin porridge left to offer these oh so welcome visitors to this city that used to gleam and inspire awe.

"Dr. Weir, do you receive me?" queried Caldwell when no reply was received.

Sheppard cleared his throat but it was still dry and raspy, and barely there. He was so tired that Bates held him up on one side. The Major signaled for Chuck at the comm. "Sir, this is Sheppard. Such as we are, we wait to welcome you. And if you please, we could use some medical assistance as soon as possible."

There was no further question from Caldwell, but they could hear the hesitation. "Acknowledged."

The bright white of an Asgard transport enveloped the Gate Room. Caldwell and his company of twelve showed their shock, but the Atlantians were entirely silent. Hope had arrived, but no one quite believed it yet.

Sheppard left his man-crutch, Bates, to stand at attention, but only for a moment before he started to crumple to unconsciousness.

Dr. Beckett, who was as usual still trembling, rushed to the Major's side to give aid with his two assistants.

Caldwell gestured to his medic to help and they managed to support Sheppard and headed to what was left of their infirmary while Bates chose to remain behind, probably to brief the Colonel since he was in charge when Sheppard was off duty, or unavailable.

Chuck spoke to Caldwell on McKay's behalf. "Sir, the doc here has a pretty severe concussion. If you don't mind, I'm going to get him to the infirmary, too, sir."

"Of... of course. Campbell is it?"

Chuck looked blank for a moment. "Yes. Sir. That's me."

Then the baby started crying and Radek took charge of her, Torren, and Mikolas. He gave Miko a look of longing but she simply nodded and whispered, "it's okay."

Caldwell looked at all the shell-shocked faces. He knew then how close he'd come to being impossibly late. He scanned the faces looking for someone of the Command Staff but didn't really recognize anyone but Bates.

"Sergeant Bates, you seem to be the highest ranking one present. Perhaps you could explain what situation we've arrived in?"

Bates looked slowly around the Gate Room, seeming to meet every pair of eyes. "Sir, this is it. We're it. All that's left. Except of course for the injured that have just left."

"But..."

"Yes, sir."

Caldwell's shock made him clench his hands behind his back. The other men and women with him didn't know what to do.

Bates asked tentatively, "Sir, if you have water and food we would appreciate if you could distribute some. We've been low for some time."

Caldwell turned to his people. "Call down the temporary mess and get it set up. Immediately."

With orders to act upon, his crew flew into action. Anything they had carried down with them was immediately offered for the relief of the Atlantis crew, which mostly decided to sit where they'd been standing, or on various crates and boxes.

Caldwell still needed answers, information that only these people could provide. He settled on the military action he'd observed as his first focus. "Sergeant Bates. I saw three small ships with Atlantis electronic signatures. They did some amazing work out there. If those pilots are here I'd like to speak to them, commend them on their tactics. My people were amazed at their skill."

Bates' head hung low for a long moment. When he raised his head Caldwell was startled to see that his eyes were wet, but the tears were held back. "Sir, only the ATA gene carriers could fly the ships. Everyone else was locked out of them, and most other stuff on Atlantis. We did... everything we could to help, but it was mostly on them."

Caldwell offered in confusion, "But I know there were only a few gene carriers on the Expedition. Sheppard, Markham, Beckett, Grodin, and Kusinagi."

Bates added, "Dr. Beckett developed a gene therapy, it only took for Dr. McKay but it never was as active as a natural gene." Bates managed a sad smile as he added, "He was a truly terrible pilot, Sir, but he took missions just like the others until his ship was too damaged. That was when he received the concussion. I hope the docs can help him."

Caldwell pressed on. Military concerns were an easier topic and essential, at least for the moment. "Those little ships are pretty powerful though. They had drone complements like the Control Chair on Earth? And they could cloak. That's amazing for such a small ship. Is that how the gene carriers were able to use them to defend the city?"

Bates agreed. "But there are only three that have survived, and they're probably out of drones now. Those were the ones you saw in action today. Really, if you have questions about them, I'm not the one to ask. Unfortunantly Markham and Grodin were both killed on missions months ago. You saw Sheppard. I'd be surprised if you could talk to him for a while since I doubt he's regained consciousness. And Dr. Beckett, though not injured, gets the shakes after missions. PTSD. And he's pretty busy right now anyway. That leaves Dr. Kusinagi."

"Hm. Perhaps I should talk to him. Is he here in the Gate Room?"

Bates grimaced as he looked around the Gate Room knowing she'd be here somewhere, especially since Radek and the kids were eating now. "Huh. Yeah. There she is. Miko! Colonel Caldwell would like to ask you some questions about the Jumpers if you feel up to it, ma'am."

Caldwell scanned the group milling around the temporary mess that had been beamed down and had been set against the far wall near where the infirmary corridor seemed to be. His stomach did a little flip when she turned to him. It only confirmed their level of desperation to him that they had to send a pregnant woman up in a fighter.

Miko tried to set her bowl of hot soup down but there was no room and she was too hungry to want to let it go, so she grabbed a bottle of water and tucked it under her arm. She started to head to Caldwell but stopped. She gestured with her head to the stairs to the Control Room and Caldwell nodded back.

She was six months pregnant but underweight, even though Radek gave her most of his rations. She had wept where he couldn't see, but accepted his food for the sake of his child to be. She sighed at those thoughts, but still couldn't forget that her feet hurt. After she sat she wasn't sure what to do with the soup. She really wanted to eat it while it was hot.

Caldwell had the grace to be embarrassed. "Please, Dr. Kusinagi, don't let me keep you from your meal. I think you've more than earned it today."

"It is surprising what a difference a hot meal can make. We honestly thought today would be the last."

Caldwell found it hard to speak. Hard to know what to say. "We had no idea it was this bad. The Daedalus was behind schedule, and the message we received from you was so garbled that we had no real idea what was requested. And how urgently. Colonel Carter said she thought it went too near a sun on it's journey, but she worked on it for months."

Miko nodded in acceptance. So many things had just not gone their way. "Colonel Caldwell, when we lost this battle... and without your arrival we _would_ have lost. The plan was to sink Atlantis and evacuate." Miko stirred her soup but didn't look at Caldwell as she asked, "What is the plan now, Colonel?"

Caldwell looked around at the devastation, not just on the structure but in the faces of the survivors. "Well, we saw some of your enemies when we arrived. Is there a future here? Can there be?"

Miko thought for a moment. "So much depends on the gene carriers. If Sheppard and McKay heal and are healthy, they can keep the city running. If not for them, and Radek and I, we would have lost the city long ago. But they will need lots of help of course. If my baby comes healthy, and I myself remain healthy, I can also help. Radek Zelenka and I have a son also, and he and this baby girl I carry both have the gene. Carson Beckett has PTSD, as I'm sure you saw, but we are all willing to help him. He is such a gentle man who was forced to a difficult calling. But he will also survive.

"That leaves Earth. Will it aid or withdraw? As hard as this has been, we have fought and died to stay here for more than just our own lives." She looked out at the Gate that loomed over the Room. Her voice took on a boldness, a tenacity that she rarely let others see. "_That is the gateway to Earth_. Our enemy, the Wraith, know it. They know of Earth. We can stand and fight here, or go home and wait for them to come. One way or another they _will_ come and their darts will come screeching across Earth's skies to cull the herds of their greatest feeding ground."

She raised her right hand and daringly pressed it firmly to Caldwell's chest right over his heart, surprising him to stillness. Yet her intensity only deepened. "They feed on us, Colonel Caldwell. On humans. Their feeding hands drain the life from our bodies. They can do it quickly, if starving, or they can do it slowly because the pain and fear they cause is like a drug and they crave it."

Caldwell's horrified whisper was but a brief interruption, "Feed..."

Miko only lowered her hand to steady her bowl. "To be honest, we need the Daedalus for as long as you can stay. Right now, we have only three Jumpers left and they need repairs badly. We need the expertise of your crew, your scientists. And we need air support and your Earth fighters can help while we work on our Jumpers. I hope you brought naquahda generators because we need power. If not, we need the power the Daedalus itself can produce. We found the plans for the drone factory, but we need power most of all, and lots of it to get it running. And we need healthy, well fed, strong citizens and recruits; ATA recruits most of all."

Caldwell looked at her quizzically. "Citizens." And he continued incredulously, "And it sounds like you want to comandeer the Daedalus!?"

"Yes, for as long as we can. We, the citizens of Atlantis. We have fought for and died to earn our independence don't you think?"

"Oh, yes, ma'am. No matter what the IOA may say, in all honesty I do agree with that."

"But it is not enough just to win independence. We have seen Pegasus as you have not. If we will be free, everyone on all these worlds must be free. To be free from the Wraith means to secure the protections to the rights to life, liberty, and security. To be free from Wraith means freedom from torture, and to live without fear of death by their hands. _Freedom from the Wraith is life itself. _If we don't fight, we will die. If we don't stop them here, Earth will die."

Miko bowed her head but looked even more determined when she raised it. "My children will live. If Radek and I cannot secure the freedoms I've named, then it will be for them to do. But it is not a fight we can give up. As free citizens, we choose life."

The members around the Gate Room had been listening. Caldwell had thought them beaten, but he was wrong. Eyes that had looked dead, gleamed with a fire that Miko's words had awoken.

End

Declaration of Human Rights (I used a very short excerpt.)

.

There were other ATA gene carriers on the show, but I couldn't find anyone else that was with the original expedition. (So if there was anyone else, just assume they died a heroic death. But you could send me a note. Thanks.)

wiki/Ancient_Technology_Activation_gene


End file.
